TEHRAN - Fresh details revealed by CNN about the scale of the damage sustained by the US Navy during the war on Iran once again expose President Donald Trump's miscalculation and hubris.

CNN reported that a fire aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, in March amid the joint US-Israeli war on Iran, was more severe and damaging than the Navy had previously suggested.

According to new video obtained by the leading American news outlet, "Bunks where sailors slept were totally destroyed. What remained of the beds was charred, twisted metal beneath a ceiling also apparently hollowed out by the inferno. Wires dangled from the ceiling and heaps of ashes littered the ground around the bunks."

One sailor aboard the $13-billion vessel, which played a central role in US military operations against Iran, told CNN: "I seriously thought we were going to lose the ship ... It's either fight or die."

Following the blaze, American officials said that two US sailors had been treated for "non-life-threatening injuries."

However, CNN's latest report, citing a US official, said that "the Navy's public statement downplayed the impact the fire had on the Ford as it was in the Red Sea supporting US military operations against Iran, as the fire did have an effect on capabilities."

It took the Ford's crew about 30 hours to extinguish the fire, clean up the damage and prevent it from reigniting. Roughly 600 sailors lost access to their bunks as a result of the incident, CNN previously reported.

The sailor interviewed by CNN recalled seeing an orange streak in the sky while the Ford was operating in the Red Sea, as Iranian munitions appeared on the horizon. According to the sailor, whenever Iranian missiles or drones came within a certain range of the carrier, the ship would "sound an alert, telling us to expect to get hit and do damage control."

Commissioned into the Navy in 2017, the Ford is the newest and most technologically advanced of the 11 US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and has become a symbol of both the strength and limitations of American naval power.

The carrier's advanced electromagnetic aircraft launch system enables it to launch a wide range of aircraft, from drones to fighter jets, providing commanders with greater operational flexibility. Brent Sadler, a former Navy officer, previously told CNN that the Ford possesses capabilities that distinguish it from the Navy's other aircraft carriers.

The Ford's deployment, which ended when it returned to Norfolk, Virginia, in May, also saw the ship participate in the US operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 
Apparently believing that Washington could replicate in Iran the kind of regime-change scenario it had sought in Venezuela, and influenced by Israeli pressure as well as strategic miscalculations, Trump joined Israel in launching a war against Iran on February 28.

However, after 39 days of conflict, Trump ultimately had to accept a ceasefire on April 8. He had apparently believed that the United States and Israel would be able to destroy Iran's military capabilities and pave the way for a political outcome favorable to Washington.

Instead, Iran's resilience and its military response against Israel and American military installations across the region exposed a major strategic miscalculation. Rather than demonstrating overwhelming US power, the conflict revealed the limits of military coercion against a country capable of sustaining a prolonged confrontation and imposing costs on its adversaries.

The CNN report is the latest indication emerging from US media that sheds light on the challenges faced by American forces during the war. Several previous reports have also cast doubt on claims that Iran's missile and drone capabilities were effectively neutralized, while drawing attention to the damage that Iranian strikes inflicted on US military facilities in the Persian Gulf region.

Taken together, these reports challenge the long-standing image of US military invincibility despite Washington's possession of the world's most advanced and expensive military apparatus. 

The latest revelations regarding the USS Gerald R. Ford serve as another reminder that technological superiority does not necessarily translate into strategic success and that Trump's assumptions about the outcome of the war on Iran were deeply flawed.